I Wanna Be Sedated

She is intubated and sedated. Early on she kept waking up even though they were giving her sedatives. Amelia was a little bucking bronco, flailing her arms and legs around. They had to put cuffs on her arms to prevent her from reaching up and trying to yank out her tube. Turns out the guestimated her weight to be 14 lbs...which is nearly 5 lbs. off. They finally took the time to weigh her last night and she was actually 18 lbs. 9 oz...so she wasn't getting nearly enough sedative. Once they corrected that, she drifted off to sleep.

I listened in on rounds last night and they have no idea what caused her to go into respitory distress. She is RSV and flu negative. Everything the screened for with her blood came back negative. The still are waiting on the tracheal secretions as of last night. They also wanted to give her an "extra dose of lasix" because they heard some crackles in her lungs which is a sign of fluid. I had to remind them she is not on lasix, but bumex, because she doesn't respond to lasix. They quickly admitted "er, yes, of course that is what I meant." The plan is to extubate her today. She is currently on 40% oxygen and they will keep weaning if she keeps her satts above 90.

The evening nurse says that they use the vent to put the baby in CPAP mode if I am understanding this correctly. So I am not sure if moving her to CPAP with the tube still in her throat is considered an extubation. The PICU is a different world than the NICU. One on which they seem to care much less what the parent thinks and communication is almost non-existant...they just seem to do things and then you have to inquire later -- hey what about the cjest x-ray, what about her meds, what about??? Usually they have already handled it, but sheesh, I am sitting here all night how abot engaging me in some conversation about what is going on. Don't get me wrong...people are friendly.

When she wakes up she keeps sticking her tongue out to feel all the weird things around her face. She has a vent tube and a pump tube and an NG tube that dangles in front of her face. She helps the nurses change her diaper by lifting her legs in the air.

I need to call around today and cancel all her appointments for the rest of the week. Will keep you posted as I shake the bushes around here and see what falls out.